But on the same Saturday that saw the Bears cruise against the Eagles, a rival from southern California got things done the hard way against Ohio State, inadvertently asking an important unknown about Cal:

"Can you muster a score when it really counts, in a hostile environment? Can your offense, even on an off day, come together and get the job done late?"

Unfortunately, outside of mentioning Oregon in 2007, a Cal fan searching the team's recent history for responses will mostly find the wrong kind of examples.

Such as the final fourth quarter drive at the Colosseum in 2004, where Cal needed a score from a first and goal to beat the Trojans; they instead got a sack and three incompletions.

The very next season, Joe Ayoob's overthrow of of an open David Gray against the Ducks sealed a Bears overtime loss.

Two years later, the city of Angels would continue to be Cal's demon, as Bears fans and Nate Longshore got to know UCLA's Alterraun Verner for all the wrong reasons (somewhere Gus Johnson must have been yelling "Heartbreak City!").